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Gay Parenting
Steve Lofton and his partner, Roger Croteau live in fear each day of having their foster-son, Bert, taken away from them and placed with another family. Steve and Roger can not adopt Bert, who is 10 years old, because a Florida law banning gays from adopting prohibits it. Bert, along with four other children, has been in the care of Steve and Roger since he was an infant. If he is taken away from them, he will lose the only family he has ever known.
Since June 1977, Florida has denied gays and lesbians from adopting children on the basis of morality and the supposed danger to the children (“Suit”). At that time there was press that gays were molesting and corrupting children. People today continue to believe this is true. Many other states ban gay adoptions on similar grounds. Some states, like Florida and Mississippi, have made this a formal law.
Many people, especially family-values advocates, have negative and hostile views toward gays and lesbians. We can see that “homophobia is all around us” (Benkov 187). It is so pervasive that it is even institutionalized and made into laws. Although the gay movement has made some strides in making homosexuality more accepted in this country, there are still laws in the books that promote heterosexism, intolerance and discrimination. Laws that deny gays and lesbians the right to adopt children are unfair because they discriminate against homosexuals and deprive many children of suitable parents and potentially stable homes.
Steve Lofton and his partner can not adopt their foster children because although they see themselves as a family, they are not considered one by the State of Florida. Many traditional-family advocates agree that a family cons...
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In “Death’s Waiting List”, Sally Satel presents a strong and compelling argument for the implementation of changes to the organ donation system. The author addresses a shortage of organ donations due to the current donation system in the United States, which puts stipulations on the conditions surrounding the donation. She provides ideas to positively affect the system and increase organ donations.
Florida state law currently bans lesbians and gay men from adopting children. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is attempting to get a case before the Supreme Court that could overturn the law. The ban on gay adoption has been in place since 1977, when the state legislature almost unanimously condoned restriction of the rights of its gay citizens. Legislation on the issue was sparked by Anita Bryant's "Save Our Children" campaign, which raged through Florida and even beyond spreading myths about homosexuality and linking homosexuality to pedophilia. At the time of its inception, Senator Curtis Peterson, one of its primary supporters, spoke to the law's true purpose: "The problem in Florida has been that homosexuals are surfacing to such an extent that they're beginning to aggravate the ordinary folks. We're trying to send them a message, telling them: ¡®We're really tired of you. We wish you'd go back into the closet" (1).
Being for or against gay and lesbian marriage has been the topic that has started a great amount of controversy in the U.S. for the past few years. In some states gay marriage has been already been approved, but in others it has been denied. The next hot topic in the U.S. refers to the approval of gay and lesbian adoption. There are many negative and positives to this subject, whether society is for, or against gay and lesbian marriage. The act of gay and lesbian adoption should not be allowed because, yes its true we don’t get to choose our parents but we should at least be able to have a father and mother, not two fathers and or two mothers. It is also not fair for an innocent little one to get put on the spotlight and get dirty looks from others because of the adults’ choices. The embarrassment of not having a mother or father can be so overwhelming on such children that it could unfortunately lead them to taking bad actions.
VanZile-Tamsen, C., Testa, M., & Livingston, J. A. (2005). The impact of sexual assault history and relationship context on appraisal of and responses to acquaintance sexual assault risk. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 20(7), 813-832. doi: 10.1177/0886260505276071
Out of fifty states, only sixteen states allow gay adoptions while people in the other thirty-four states are either denied or sent to court to be determined by a complete stranger with no background information on the couple, whether or not they can take care of a child or not. According to “LGBT Adoption Statistics”, in 2012, 110,000 adopted children live with gay parents. Of the total amount of children in U.S. households, less than one percent lives with same-sex parents. If homosexuals were allowed to adopt, that one percent would rapidly increase. Sexual orientation of parents is not important when it comes to raising children; how the children are being raised and how the parents work together is what is truly important.
In recent years, same-sex relationships have become more encompassing in US society. State legislation is changing such as accepting gay marriages, enforcing anti-discrimination laws, and legal gay adoptions; the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is becoming public. Gay-headed families, like heterosexuals, are diverse and varying in different forms. Whether a created family is from previous heterosexual relationships, artificial insemination, or adoption, it deserves the same legal rights heterosexual families enjoy. Full adoption rights needs to be legalized in all states to provide a stable family life for children because sexual orientation does not determine parenting skills, children placed with homosexual parents have better well-being than those in foster care, and there are thousands of children waiting for good homes.
Charles Dickens’ aptly titled novel Great Expectations focuses on the journey of the stories chief protagonist, Pip, to fulfill the expectations of his life that have been set for him by external forces. The fusing of the seemingly unattainable aspects of high society and upper class, coupled with Pip’s insatiable desire to reach such status, drives him to realize these expectations that have been prescribed for him. The encompassing desire that he feels stems from his experiences with Mrs. Havisham and the unbridled passion that he feels for Estella. Pip realizes that due to the society-imposed caste system that he is trapped in, he will never be able to acquire Estella’s love working as a lowly blacksmith at the forge. The gloomy realizations that Pip is undergoing cause him to categorically despise everything about himself, feeling ashamed for the life he is living when illuminated by the throngs of the upper class.
Sexual assault is a traumatic event that can cause extreme psychological effects on the victim. These effects can be short-term, and they can manifest themselves into long-term effects, depending on the individual and how the sexual assault occurred. Victims of sexual assault can be either male or female, with both sexes having fairly similar psychological effects. In addition to these psychological effects, some individuals develop Rape Trauma Syndrome or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which can be more easily classified as short-term versus long-term responses. Every individual is different and may differ in their reactions to this event; there is no normal or common way to react (Kaminker, 1998, pg. 23).
Homosexuality is becoming more and more accepted and integrated into today’s society, however, when it comes to homosexuals establishing families, a problem is posed. In most states, homosexuals can adopt children like any other married or single adult. There are many arguments to this controversial topic; some people believe that it should be legal nationally, while others would prefer that is was banned everywhere, or at least in their individual states. There are logical reasons to allow gays to adopt children, but for some, these reasons are not enough. The main issue really is, what is in the best interest of the child? This type of problem isn’t really one with causes, effects, and solutions, but one with pros and cons. Like any other adoption situation, a parent prove themselves to be responsible and capable enough to raise a child on their own, or with a spouse.
One of the most important and prevalent issues in healthcare discussed nowadays is the concern of the organ donation shortage. As the topic of organ donation shortages continues to be a growing problem, the government and many hospitals are also increasingly trying to find ways to improve the number of organ donations. In the United States alone, at least 6000 patients die each year while on waiting lists for new organs (Petersen & Lippert-Rasmussen, 2011). Although thousands of transplant candidates die from end-stage diseases of vital organs while waiting for a suitable organ, only a fraction of eligible organ donors actually donate. Hence, the stark discrepancy in transplantable organ supply and demand is one of the reasons that exacerbate this organ donation shortage (Parker, Winslade, & Paine, 2002). In the past, many people sought the supply of transplantable organs from cadaver donors. However, when many ethical issues arose about how to determine whether someone is truly dead by either cardiopulmonary or neurological conditions (Tong, 2007), many healthcare professionals and transplant candidates switched their focus on obtaining transplantable organs from living donors instead. As a result, in 2001, the number of living donors surpassed the number of cadaver donors for the first time (Tong, 2007).
There are hundreds of thousands of children who are in foster care and need a home with a family who will love and care for them. Families lead by same-sex couples are viewed as “non-traditional households” and these parents raise their children in very much the same ways as heterosexual parents. These children grow with their adoptive families and if their parents have a stable relationship with each other and with their adoptive children, and have great support systems, then it should not be difficult for those children to thrive in the world as children of gay/lesbian parents.
...loping countries. Its costs originate from penalties after they are detected by the government authorities. Those fines are very stiff and usually covered by the modest output or the physical capital stock of the informal entities. On the other hand, MSMEs being informal often prevent themselves achieving economies of scale, enjoy legal and judicial benefits and social services, lacking bargaining power and ability to enforce contracts through the courts. Thus, it reduces the chances of investments from internal and capital markets.
It can be seen through Dickens’s highly successful novel Great Expectations, that his early life events are reflected into the novel. Firstly the reader can relate to Dickens’s early experiences, as the novel’s protagonist Pip, lives in the marsh country, and hates his job. Pip also considers himself, to be too good for his ...
Shades of Dickens' childhood are repeatedly manifested throughout Great Expectations. According to Doris Alexander, Dickens "knew that early circumstances shape character and that character, in turn, shapes reactions to later circumstances" (3). Not coincidentally, then, the novel is initially set in Chatham and the action eventually moves to London, much like Dickens did himself. The "circumstances" that young Pip experiences a...
As a bildungsroman, Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations presents the growth and development of Philip Pirrip, better known as Pip. Pip is both the main character in the story and the narrator, telling his tale many years after the events take place. Pip goes from being a young boy living in poverty in the marsh country of Kent, to being a gentleman of high status in London. Pip’s growth and maturation in Great Expectations lead him to realize that social status is in no way related to one’s real character.